For Boy Scouts of America Troop 303 member Joseph Wickham-Vilaubi, his Eagle Scout project is not only about getting promoted — it’s also about helping others like him feel less alone.
“When I was growing up at Mint Canyon [Elementary School], I was never good at making friends,” he said, “and so I wanted to help people that have my disability, which is autism, or are just not social people, so that way, they can make friends.”
“He’s high-functioning autistic and growing up in primary school was very difficult,” said his mother, Cynthia Wickham. “He was a very shy boy, always quiet. His Eagle project wanted to be something towards helping other kids not struggle as much as he struggled and hopefully have a more joyful recess time.”
With that goal in mind, Wickham-Vilaubi settled on running a hybrid garage and bake sale out of his home in Canyon Country with the goal of raising enough money to buy his old school a “buddy bench” and redesign the P.E. room.
“The P.E. room ties into this so that a guy that comes and sees him on the bench, goes over to the P.E. room and grabs a ball or a board game and asks the new kid if they want to play with them,” he said. “It’s just cool to get to help out the campus because they said that they’ve actually wanted something like that for a long time.”
Wickham-Vilaubi’s family, friends and fellow Troop 303 members pitched in by donating both money and old items to sell. His driveway was packed full of old books, toys, household appliances, and freshly baked cookies and pastries. His overall financial goal is $3,000.
“My goal for today is about $500,” he said Sunday. “Yesterday, I raised over $1,300.”
Wickham and her husband, Rick Vilaubi, both pitched in to support their son, greatly impressed with his creativity and leadership skills.
“We kind of wondered what we could come up with that would help him and benefit him, and then he came up with the idea to actually ask members of his troop for donations,” Wickham said. “And the members of his troop have really pulled through. They’ve donated a ton of stuff, which has made all of this possible.”
“He has a brother who is in Arizona that is in the Arizona State Trooper Academy,” she added. “And some of his academy cadet friends, they’re all sending some money from Arizona to help him as well.”
Wickham-Vilaubi’s scoutmasters, both past and present, are also supportive of and impressed by his efforts and goal to help those struggling as he has.
“When he first joined, he was very shy and in his shell, and it has been so great to see how much he has grown,” said assistant scoutmaster Brian Hoffman, who’s known Wickham-Vilaubi since he first joined the Boy Scouts in late 2019. “I know that he’s very vocal about autism and the boundaries that he may feel like he has. But he was very shy, and the confidence wasn’t as great as it is today. So, over the last few years, he has really grown.”
